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BARK KATHLEEN SUNK 
BY A WHALE 



As Related by the Captain, 

THOMAS H. JENKINS 



To which is added an account of two like occurrences, 
the loss of 

Ships Ann Alexander and Essex 



Published by 

H. S. HUTCHINSON & CO. 

New Bedford^ 

Massachusetts 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

T«o Copito Received 

NOV; ^S '1902 

Copyright entry 
CLASsCLvXXo No, 

cory B. 



Copyrighted 1902 

H. S. Hutchinson & Co. 

New Bedford, Mass. 









BARK KATHLEEN 



Rammed and Sank by an Infariated 
Bull Whale. 



(New York Jourual.) 

The most thrilling episode ever known 
in the history of the American Whale 
Fisheries has just occurred. 

It is full of the mj'Stery and thrill and 
terror of the deep sea. It is even more 
wonderful than any of the stories told 
by Mr. Frank T. BuUen. author of the 
famous "Cruise of the Cachalot.'" 



CREW LIST 

Of Bark Kathleen when she sailed from 
New Bedford, Mass., October 22, 1901, 
for a whaling voyage in the South 
Atlantic : 

Thomas H Jenkins, South Dartmouth, 
master; J. W. Nichols, first mate; Paul 
Gomes, second mate; Manuel Viera and 
Morris Murray, boat-headers ; Phillipe 
J. Viera, George Williams, Herbert K. 
Keynolds, Cecelia Manuel Delgardo, 
boatsteerers ; J. A.Jensen, cooper, car- 
penter, and blacksmith; Alfred W. Ellis, 
stewarid ; Benjamin J. Taber. cook ; Julio 
Alves, Jocking Barrows, Manuel Fernan- 
dez, Manuel Fonseca, Charles H. Lutz, 
ordinary seamen; Manuel Teceira, pre- 
venter boatsteerer ; Pedro Manuel Silva, 
seaman ; Aurilla Lopez, seaman and pre- 
venter boatsteerer; Frank A. Bragg, 
green hand and carpenter; Antone Mon- 
terio, Ai'thur P. McPherson, Louis Sharp, 
J. A. H. Nickerson, Clarence W. Thwing, 
Rodney Morrison, William Glass, William 
H. Carr, green hands. Mrs. Jenkins 
accompanied her husband on the cruise. 



/ 



■1f 




./ 




READY TO SAIL 



INTRODUCTION 



The Kathleen was about 195 tons and with 
outfits was valued at $20,000, being partially 
insured by her several owners. She also had on 
board at the time of the accident a small quantity 
of oil taken since leaving port. 

The Kathleen had always been called a "lucky 
ship" and had made many good voyages. 

She was built for the merchant service at Phila- 
delphia in 1844, and after a year in the trade, 
was purchased by Captain James Slocum and 
fitted as a whaler. Her first master in the whal- 
ing industry was Captain William Allen, and she 
had in her day made many a good voyage. 
Among her masters have been Captain Charles 
Childs, Captain Daniel W. Gifibrd and Captain 
Samuel R. Rowland. She had been almost en- 



BARK KATHI.EEN 



tirely built over only a few years ago, and just 
before being fitted for a cruise to St. Helena in 
1899, where she loaded oil, was thoroughly 
overhauled. 

Last year, it will be remembered, the Kathleen 
arrived in port in a disabled condition. This was 
on Sept. 28th, 1901, when she was commanded 
by Captain Fred H. Smith. For three days that 
month on the 6th, 7th and 8lh, while southeast of 
Barbados, she was on her beam ends and at the 
mercy of the sea. The crew lived on the quarter 
deck at the time, not daring to go below. In 
fitting her up for the last cruise she was newly 
sparred. 



Story of the Loss of 
Bark Kathleen 

Told by the Captain, 

THOMAS H. JENKINS 



Having been requested to give an account of 
the sinking of the Bark Kathleen by a whale I 
will do the best I can, though I think that those 
who have read the papers know as much or more 
about it than I do. 

We sailed from New Bedford the 2 2d October, 
1901, and with the exception of three weeks of 
the worst weather I have ever had on leaving 
home, everything went fairly well till we arrived 
out on the 12-40 ground.* 

*What is known by the whalers as the "12-40 Ground" is located in the 
Atlantic Ocean about 12° Latitude N., 40° Longitude W., approximately 1,000 
miles off the coast of Brazil. — (Ed.) 



12 BARK KATHLEEN 

The day we arrived there we raised a large 
whale and chased him most all day but could not 
seem to get any aim of him. We lost the run of 
him at last in a rain squall. 

A few days after, the 17th of March, 1902, was 
one of the finest whaling days I have ever seen, 
smooth water and a clear sky. When they were 
going up to mast head I told them to look sharp for 
someone was going to raise a whale before night. 

We steered different courses during the fore- 
noon and at i p. m. the man aloft raised a white 
water which proved to be sperm whales, and 
there was a lot of them, some heading one way, 
some another. 

When we got within a mile of them we lowered 
four boats, and soon after iMr. Nichols, the first 
mate, struck a whale, the other whales went to 
leeward and I followed them with the ship till I 
was sure the boats saw them. 

Mr. Nichols then had his whale dead about 
one mile to windward, so I came to wind on the 
port tack, but it took us some time to get up to 
the mate, as we could not carry any foretopsail 
or flying jibs as the topmast had given out. 



BARK KATHLEEN I5 

I Stood on the port tack a while and then 
tacked. When we got braced up the dead 
whale was one point off the lee bow. I saw 
we were going to fetch him all right. Mr. 
Nichols had wafed his whale and was chasing 
some more. By that time, about 3 p. m., the 
lookout called out that the three boats to lee- 
ward were all fast. Of course we were all glad 
to hear that. I ran the ship alongside of the 
dead whale and after darting at him two or 
three times managed to get fast and get him 
alongside. Just then it was reported that the 
boats to leeward were out of sight. That 
worried me some so I told the cooper to get 
the fluke chain on the whale and I would go 
aloft and see if I could see the boats. 

At this time Mr. Nichols had given up chasing 
and was coming on board. I got up to the top- 
mast crosstrees and sat down. I then heard a 
whale spout off the weather beam and glancing 
that way, saw sure enough a large whale not 
more than five hundred feet from us, coming 
directly for the ship. 

Mr. Nichols was then alongside, just going to 



l6 BARK KATHLEEN 

hoist his boat. I told him there was a whale, 
a big fellow, trying to get alongside and to go 
and help him along and he did help him along. 
He took him head and head and did not get fast. 
I don't know why- He certainly was near enough, 
the boatsteerer said too near, and did not have 
a chance to swing his iron. 

Instead of that whale going down or going 
to windward as they most always do, he kept 
coming directly for the ship, only much faster 
than he was coming before he was darted at. 
When he got within thirty feet of the ship he saw 
or heard something and tried to go under the ship 
but he was so near and was coming so fast he did 
not have room enough to get clear of her. 

He struck the ship forward of the mizzen rig- 
ging and about five or six feet under water. It 
shook the ship considerably when he struck her, 
then he tried to come up and he raised the stern 
up some two or three feet so when she came down 
her counters made a big splash. The whale came 
up on the other side of the ship and laid there and 
rolled, did not seem to know what to do. I asked 
the cooper if he thought the whale had hurt the 



BARK KATHLEEN I9 

ship an)' and he said he did not think so for he 
had not heard anything crack. 

Mr. Nichols was still trying to get to the whale 
when I thought we had no business fooling with 
-that whale any more that day as the other three 
boats were out of sight and fast to whales and 
night coming on, so I told him to come alongside. 
<'What for?" asked Mr. Nichols, "the whale is 
laying there." I said, "Never mind the whale 
but come alongside and hoist the boat up as soon 
as you can. " He did so and I told him to get his 
glasses and come up to masthead and see if he 
could see the boats. His eyes were younger than 
mine and he soon raised them. Just at this time 
one of the men went to the forecastle to get some 
dry clothes and he found the floor covered with 
water. He cried out and then I knew the ship 
must have quite a hole in her. I immediately 
ordered flags set at all three mastheads, a signal 
for all boats to come on board under any and all 
circumstances. 

Mr. Viera was then not more than a mile and a 
half from the ship and I knew he could not but 
help seeing the flags, but it was no use, he would 



20 BARK KATHLEEN 

not let go that whale he was fast to. If he had 
only come to the ship they could have got some 
more water and bread. I set two gangs at work 
right away, one getting water and the other get- 
ting bread. The cask of bread was between 
decks and three men staid with that cask till 
the water came in and floated the cask away 
from them. 

I then went to the cabin and found Mrs. Jenkins 
reading. She did not know that there was any- 
thing the matter with the ship. I told her the 
ship was sinking and to get some warm clothing 
as soon as she could but not to try to save 
anything else. Well, the first thing she did 
was to go for the parrot and take him on deck. 
Then she got a jacket and an old shawl. 

By that time it was time to take to the boat, 
which we did without any confusion whatever. 

There were twenty-one of us in the boat and 
with the water and bread and some old clothes 
she was pretty near the water, so deep that the 
water came over the centre board, so that some 
of us had to keep bailing all the time, while the 



BARK KATHLEEN 23 

rest were paddling down to the boat that was still 
laying by the whale. 

The ship rolled over to windward five minutes 
after we got clear of her. Well, we got to Mr» 
Viera at last and divided the men and give him 
his share of bread and water. Then it was dark 
and very necessary that we should find the other 
boats, for I knew they did not see the ship capsize 
and they would be looking for her for a day or 
so with no water to drink. Well, we set our sails 
and steered as near as we could where we thought 
the boats ought to be and about nine o'clock we 
raised them. 

They were very much surprised to hear that the 
Kathleen was gone. I gave them some bread and 
water and divided the men up again, so three 
boats had ten men each and one boat nine men, 
I told them all to keep in sight of me and that I 
would keep a lantern burning all night. We 
then started for the island of Barbados, distant 
1,060 miles. It was a beautiful moonlight night 
with a smooth sea. When morning came there 
was not a boat to be seen so I came to the wind 
and laid with the sheet slacked off over an hour 



24 BARK KATHLEEN 

and raised a boat to windward steering for us. 
It was the third mate and he wanted some water. 
The water we gave him the night before was all 
salt. Well, we divided with him again and again 
started on our journey with five gallons of water. 
I told the third mate to keep up with me if he 
could but I should not stop for him or any one 
else again. About nine o'clock a. m, some one 
said he saw something off the port bow. We all 
looked and made it out to be smoke from a steamer 
and soon saw she was coming right for us, so 
we knew we were saved. 

When she got near we saw she had a whale 
boat on her davits. They had picked up our 
second mate an hour before and he had told the 
captain that there were three other boats adrift 
and one of them had the captain and wife on 
board, so he was steaming around with two men 
at the masthead with glasses looking for us. We 
got alongside and she was way out of water. I 
asked Mrs. Jenkins if she could get up on a rope 
ladder they had put over the side and she said 
yes, she could get up if it was twice as high and 
she was not long in getting on deck. 



BARK KATHLEEN 2'J 

Captain Dalton met us and welcomed us on 
board of the Borderer of Glasgow. He was very 
kind to us and did everything possible for us 
for the nine days we were on board his steamer, 
gave up his room to Mrs. Jenkins and myself 
even. 

In nine days we were landed at Pernambuco 
and from there we came to Philadelphia on 
steamer Pydna, Captain Crossley. 

We found friends everywhere we went ; even 
in Philadelphia I had telegrams asking me to 
telegraph them if I needed any assistance. We 
arrived at New Bedford in due time and even 
Mr. Wing, (the agent of the Bark Kathleen), 
met me smilingly and seemed glad to see me. 
Everything seemed to work our way after the 
accident. When we were leaving the Borderer 
Capt. Dalton gave me thirty dollars in American 
bills, all he had with him. 

He told me to take it and if I felt able when 
I got home to send the amount to his wife in 
England. It seems that Capt. Dalton had been 
running down this way for some years and 
having met head currents decided ^/ii's trip to 



28 BARK KATHLEEN 

make a passage three or four degrees to the 
eastward to see if he couldn't get out of it. 

Owing to this fact we were picked up as we 
were. 

As we had not seen a sail of any description 
for some time we might have been days in our 
boat before seeing any vessel. 

The other boat containing one of the mates 
and 9 seamen landed safely at the Barbados after 
being in the boat 9 days with but 5 gallons of 
water and a little ship bread. 



Loss OF THE Ships 
Ann Alexander and Essex. 



Cases of whales rushing head on are very rare. 
One instance which will be remembered by some 
of the older residents of the city was in 1851, when 
the ship Ann Alexander was sunk in the Pacific 
ocean by a maddened whale. 

In the Whaleman's Shipping List of Nov. 4, 
185 1, is a very full account of that occurrence. 
The storv , which is substantiall3' as follows, first 
appeared in the Panama Herald, as told by 
Captain John S. Deblois, follows : 

The ship Ann Alexander sailed from New 
Bedford, June ist, 1850, for a cruise in the South 
Pacific. Having taken 500 barrels of sperm oil in 
the Atlantic, Captain Deblois proceeded on the 
voyage to the Pacific. 



32 BARK KATHLEEN 

On the 20th of August, 185 1, while cruising on 
the "Off Shore grounds," at 9 o'clock in the 
morning, whales were discovered, and at noon 
of the same day succeeded in making fast to 
one. 

The mate's boat made fast to the whale, which 
ran with the boat for some time, and then suddenly 
turning about rushed at the boat with open jaws, 
crushing the little craft into splinters. Captain 
Deblois rescued the boat's crew. 

Later the waist boat was lowered from the ship 
and another attack made upon the leviathan. 
The mate again in charge of the attacking boat 
experienced another smashup, for in the battle the 
whale again turned on the boat's crew and crushed 
the second boat. The crew was saved and all 
hands returned to the ship, which proceeded after 
the whale. 

The ship passed on by him, and immediately 
after it was discovered that the whale was making 
for the ship. As he came up near her they 
hauled on the wind and suffered the monster 
to pass her. 

After he had fairly passed they kept off" to 



BARK KATHLEEN 33 

overtake and attack him again. When the ship 
had reached within about 50 rods of him the 
crew discovered that the whale had settled down 
•deep below the surface of the water, and as it 
was near sundown, it was decided to give up the 
pursuit. 

The ship was moving about five knots, and 
while Captain Deblois stood at the rail he 
suddenl}^ saw the whale rushing at the ship at 
the rate of 15 knots. In an instant the monster 
struck the ship with tremendous violence, shaking 
her from stem to stern. She quivered under the 
violence of the shock as if she had struck upon a 
rock. 

The whale struck the ship about two feet 
from the keel, abreast the foremast, knocking a 
great hole entirely through her bottom, through 
which the water roared and rushed in impetuously. 
The anchors and cables were thrown overboard, 
as she had a large quantity of pig iron aboard. 
The ship sank rapidly, all effort to keep her afloat 
proving futile. 

Captain Deblois ordered all hands to take to 
the boats and was the last to leave the ship, 

L.ofC. 



34 BARK KATHLEEN 

doing so b}^ jumping from the vessel into the 
sea and swimming to the nearest boat. The ship 
was on hTr beam end, her topgallant yards under 
water. 

They hung around in the vicinity of the Ann 
Alexander all that night, and the next day the 
captain boarded his vessel and cutting away 
the masts she righted, when they succeeded in 
getting stores from her hold, with which to supply 
their boats, should it become necessary to make a 
boat voyage to land. 

On August 22 ship Nantucket, Captain Gibbs, 
cruising in that vicinity, discovered the imperiled 
sailors and taking them in charge landed them 
at Paita, September 15th. The Ann Alexander 
was hopelessly wrecked and left to her fate on 
August 23. 

Five months after this disaster this pugnacious 
whale was captured by the Rebecca Simms of this 
port. Two of the Ann Alexander's harpoons were 
found in him and his head had sustained serious 
injuries, pieces of the ship's timbers being 
imbedded in it. The whale yielded 70 to 80 
barrels of oil. 



BARK KATHLEEN 37 

The only other known case of a like nature 
occurred to the ship Essex of Nantucket, com- 
manded by Captain George Pollard, Jr. 

She sailed from Nantucket, August 12, 1819, 
for a cruise in the Pacific ocean. On the morning 
of November 20, 1819, latitude 0.40 south and 
longitude 119 west, whales were discovered and 
all three boats lowered in pursuit. 

The mate's boat soon struck a whale, but 
a blow of the animal's tail opening a bad hole 
in the boat, the crew was obliged to cut 
from him. 

In the meantime, the captain's and second 
mate's boats had fastened to another whale, 
and the mate, heading the ship for the other 
boats, set about overhauling his boat preparatory 
to lowering again. 

While doing this he saw a large sperm whale 
break water about 20 rods from the ship. The 
whale disappeared, but immediately came up 
again about a ship's length off, and made 
directly for the vessel, going at a velocity of 
about three miles an hour, and the Essex was 
advancing at about the same rate of speed. 



38 BARK KATHLEEN 

Scarcely had the mate ordered the boy at the 
helm to put it hard up, when the whale, with 
greatly accelerated speed, struck the ship with 
his head just forward of the forechains. 

The ship brought up suddenly and violently 
and trembled like a leaf. The whale passed 
under the vessel, scraping her keel as he went, 
came up on the leeward side, and lay apparently 
stunned for a moment. 

The vessel began to settle at the head with the 
whale 100 j-ards off thrashing the water violently 
with his tail and opening and closing his jaws 
with great fur}'. 

While the mate was thinking of getting the 
two extra boats clear, as the vessel had begun 
to settle rapidl}^ the cry was started by a sailor : 
"Here he is: he is making for us again!" 

The whale came down for the ship with 
twice his ordinary speed and a line of foam 
about a rod in width, made with his tail, 
which he continually thrashed from side to side, 
marked his coming. 

The whale crashed into the bows of the Essex, 
staving them completely in directly under the 



BARK KATHLEEN 39 

cathead. The whale after the second assault 
passed under the ship and out of sight to the 
leeward. 

The crew were in a tix, in mid-ocean, a 
thousand miles from the nearest land and nothing 
but the frail whaleboat to save them. 

The lashings of the spare boat were cut and 
she was launched with the ship falling on her 
beam ends. The ship hung together for three 
days. Provisions were taken from her and the 
whaleboats strengthened. 

The boats started for the coast of Chile or 
Peru and after a hard time they landed at Ducies 
island. Unable to find subsistence there they 
again started, Dec. 27th, after leaving three 
of their number, of their own desire, and com- 
menced to make the perilous voyage to the island 
of Juan Fernandez. 

Many of the boats' crew died and the recital 
states that the flesh of a dead comrade was 
eaten by members of the mate's boat. 

On Feb. 17th the surviving crew of the mate's 
boat were picked up by brig Indian. Captain 
Pollard and Charles Ramsdale, the sole survivors 



40 BARK KATHLEEN 

of the captain's boat, were picked up Feb. 23d by 
a Nantucket whaler, and the third boat was never 
heard from. 

( Nevj Bedford Ex>ening Standard^. 



APPENDIX. 

Through the efforts of the New Bedford Board 
of Trade Captain Dalton has been presented by 
the U. S. Government a gold watch suitably 
inscribed in addition to the set of resolutions 
and pair of marine glasses presented him by 
that Board in recognition of his services in 
rescuing the Captain and crew of the Kathleen. 



Driftwood 
for open fireplaces 



Driftwood consists of the sheathing and plank- 
ing torn from old whaling ships, forming the only 
satisfactory and reliable form for Driftwood, as 
each piece of it being completely impregnated 
with copper through the action of the salt water 
will, while burning, delight the eye with brilliant 
changing colors. 

It should be used in the fireplace, not to kindle 
the fire, nor when the wood or coal is blazing 
freely, but after a glowing bed of coals is formed, 
as the crowning touch of beauty, lay on one, two, 
or three pieces of this magic wood. 

Then with more than sunset splendor, it will 
flame and glow and die away and glow again, 
giving up itself in a glor}' of color that breathes 
out beauty, witchery, mystery, all in one. 

Packed in barrels and shipped to any address b}' 

H. S. HUTCHINSON & CO., 

New Bedford, Mass.' 



Pictures of Whaling Scenes. 

sperm Whalingf and Its Varieties. 
Rigfht Whaling in Behring; Sea. 

From Paintings by Benj. Russell. 

Right Whalingt Cutting In. 
Sperm Whaling, The Chase. 
Sperm Whaling, The Capture. 

EITHER FRAMED OR UNFRAMED. 



Souvenirs of Whaling Days. 

Figure Heads, 

Whale's Teeth, 

Old Log Books, 
Harpoons, 

Photographs, Etc, 



H. S. HUTCHINSON & CO., 

New Bedford, Mass. 



NOV 16 1902 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



020 196 955 4 



